Friday, February 16, 2018

Simplify Your Life with Recurring Tasks!

It takes a lot of work to keep your building running
smoothly. The Maintenance module is one of the most popular and oft-used tools
in the BuildingLink platform, and the Recurring Tasks feature makes a good
thing even better! If you want to change the way your team handles and tracks
repeating maintenance duties, read on for a complete walkthrough of this
powerful feature.

Where to Find It

The Recurring Task function is located inside the
Maintenance module:

Click on the Recurring Tasks link and you’ll see two
options: Recurring Tasks and Recurring Tasks Forecast. The first
option is where you set up and edit recurring tasks. The second lets you choose
a date range and see all the recurring tasks for that period (more on that
later).

Setting Up A New Task

Let’s dive into setting up a Recurring Task! To start, click
on the “Create New Task” button:

The top of this page looks just like setting up a new
(one-time) Maintenance request:

Here, you can specify the unit number, leave a detailed
description, assign it to a maintenance category (as well as to an equipment
item or employee), and all the other usual criteria that you typically apply to
a task.

Next set up the scheduling attributes, the heart of the
recurring task module:

Timing intervals for tasks include every day, every weekday,
specific weekdays, monthly, and much more. You can pick your weekdays, months
of the year, and set start and end dates for the recurrence of the task. You
can even put tasks on hold for specific parts of the year (e.g., if the pool is
closed for the winter, you can set the weekly task “pool cleaning” to suspend
for a few months and resume when it reopens).

How Long Can a Task
Run For?

Forever, if you want! Choose “No End Date” and the task will
continue to recur indefinitely. If you have an end date in mind for when a task
should stop recurring, you can enter it, or a task can be programmed to recur a
set number of times, then stop.

What Can I Do with a
Recurring Task?

Anything you want, really! Set annual maintenance reminders
for when important equipment like boilers and elevators are due to be inspected
or serviced, program daily or weekly cleaning duties, and literally anything
else that needs doing around your building.

Once the task is in the system, you’ll see it in your Recurring
Task Forecast. Of course, on the date you’ve set for the recurrence, it’ll
appear along with all other maintenance requests for your building.

You can
interact with each recurrence like any other maintenance request: leaving
detailed notes, adding photos or documents, composing vendor work orders, and
more.

An Important Reminder
About Dates

Let’s say you have a recurring task to inspect your
building’s boiler. You want it done by October 1st, so you go into
BuildingLink and create a recurring task for every year to remind you. However,
the system notifies you on the date you set,
not the date you necessarily need to
be notified by in order to get the task done by the target date you have in
mind. To make sure you have the lead time you need to handle larger projects,
it can be helpful to set two (or more) tasks in the system: one (or more) a few
weeks beforehand to remind yourself, and then the final one at the actual due
date you need the task finished by. You’ll see all these tasks listed in your
Recurring Tasks Forecast.

What’s In the
Forecast?

The Recurring Task Forecast is your window into the future
of your upcoming tasks.

Once you have Recurring Tasks programmed in the system, you
can view them in a variety of ways to suit your planning needs. Choose your
date range, maintenance category, equipment item, task type, and whether or not
to show the task descriptions. The system will display the recurring tasks that
fit your criteria. It’s a great way to get ahead of your to-do list!

Wrapping Up

The Recurring Tasks module is a powerful tool for helping
you plan your maintenance needs ahead of time and keep your building running
smoothly.If you’re already a BuildingLink customer and want more help setting
up Recurring Tasks, the Support Team is standing by to serve you. Call or email today and let us help you
get the most out of your subscription!

Not a BuildingLink customer? Set up a demoand see
how Recurring Tasks and our whole host of other amazing features can make your
building smarter and your residents’ lives better.